Life cycle costing of a new transportation pavement constructed in the paphos district area in cyprus as a pilot study of the EcoLanes Project

Abstract

This paper describes briefly the methodology adopted for carrying out life cycle costing and environmental impact and energy consumption for different transportation pavements used and proposed in the ‘Ecolanes’ project. EcoLanes is an FP6 STREP project, funded under the priority thematic area of Sustainable Surface Transport, FP6-2005-Transport-4 call 3B. The project develops infrastructure for surface transport using slip forming and roller compaction techniques based on existing asphalt laying equipment and steel fibre reinforced concrete. The benefits of the new construction concept will be manifold, such as reducing construction costs by 10-20%, reducing construction time by 15%, reducing the energy consumption in road construction by 40%, minimizing maintenance, using waste materials in road construction and making tyre recycling more economically attractive. Life cycle costing (LCC) is a technique which enables comparative cost assessments to be made over a specified period of time, taking into account all relevant economic factors both in terms of initial capital costs and future operational costs. LCC allows for economical justification for the sustainability considerations, as implementing LCC in planning for construction projects shows that, over a project’s life, incorporation of sustainable elements proves cost-effective as well as environmentally beneficial. Paphos District area in Cyprus is one of the selected areas in which a full-scale demonstration will be implemented. All three dimensions of sustainability, including environmental, economic, and social aspects, were investigated and all data collected were used and …